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FREEDOM LOST IN CALIFORNIA YESTERDAY
boblonsberry.com | 05/16/08 | Bob Lonsberry

Posted on 05/16/2008 5:50:09 AM PDT by shortstop

It’s not really about gay marriage.

It’s about the balance of power.

It’s about popular sovereignty.

It’s about those very fundamental things that the Founding Fathers understood so well, but which have been omitted from the public consciousness and the school curricula for more than a generation.

It’s about who, in our Republic, makes the rules.

Yesterday, in California, by a 5-4 vote, a panel of judges redefined marriage. The fundamental relationship of society, a bedrock manifestation of culture and public sensibilities, was changed.

And the people had no voice.

In fact, the ruling specifically voided a 2000 vote of the people on the matter.

The people of California spoke on the issue of marriage, and the courts of California told them to shut up.

That’s what this is about.

This is about a tyranny of the judiciary. This is about the competition of authority which is inherent in our Constitution. This is about one branch of the government overstepping its bounds and suppressing, as a result, the will and liberty of the people.

Because freedom and self-determination aren’t just for the activist minority in this Republic, they are also for the majority. Our nation is intended to be run by the will of the people, in the main stream, and has a system of governance to assure that.

But restraint on the power of judges has been lost and the judicial branch of government has grown disproportionately powerful when compared to the other branches. Such a thing was specifically warned against by the Founding Fathers.

Ironically, it is the typically quiet judicial branch which can have the greatest power over our lives and liberties. The judicial branch can take our freedom, our treasure and our lives. It may lock us up, it may fine us, it may sentence us to die.

And it may ignore our will and destroy our society.

And of late it has seemingly chosen to do exactly that. On the issue of gay marriage alone, in the last month two of our largest states have had gay marriage forced on them by courts.

In New York, a court action has made all gay marriages contracted elsewhere lawful and binding in the Empire State. In California, a court action has made gay marriage a civil right.

The will and reasoning of the tiniest and shrillest of minorities has been arrogantly and antagonistically forced on the people. Insolent press conferences – by politicians and activists – marked the day yesterday as those who won in court – but could never win in a public vote – trumpeted their superiority.

And five people spoke for 38 million.

Our Constitution begins with the words “we, the people” as a recognition of popular sovereignty – the firm belief that all power resides in the people. That power is expressed through direct vote on referenda, and – more commonly – by the actions of elected representatives.

We vote for members of state and federal legislatures to pass laws which bind us. We vote for an executive at the state or federal level to administer and enforce the laws which our elected and accountable representatives have enacted.

Nowhere do we give the judiciary a trump card. The principle of judicial review does not authorize judicial legislation. It is not for the judges to create the laws. That tyrannical system has been tried through the ages and has always led to a corruption of power and a suppression of liberty.

We did not throw off the robes of the royalty to have them replaced by the robes of the judiciary.

If America wants gay marriage, America should choose gay marriage. Through a vote of the people or a vote of their representatives, the people should be heard.

Yet in every case in this country in which there is either gay marriage or the recognition of gay marriage, such a circumstance has come about as the result of judicial decisions.

That is now how America is supposed to work.

That is not how our Constitution is structured.

This is not about gay marriage.

This is about the very nature of our Republic.

This is about a judicial coup to suppress the will of the people and the power of the legislature. This about powers which have been thrown critically out of balance.

Yesterday, freedom lost.

Just like it always seems to lately.


TOPICS: Your Opinion/Questions
KEYWORDS: blackrobedtyrants; california; gaymarriage; judicialactivism; judiciarygonewild; lonsberry; moralabsolutes
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And five people spoke for 38 million.

Yesterday, freedom lost.

Just like it always seems to lately.

1 posted on 05/16/2008 5:50:12 AM PDT by shortstop
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To: shortstop

Men in Black run our country not the people. The constitution is in the trash can.


2 posted on 05/16/2008 5:52:23 AM PDT by Piquaboy (22 year veteran of the Army, Air Force and Navy, Pray for all our military .)
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To: shortstop

Are we on our way to another civil war?


3 posted on 05/16/2008 5:55:34 AM PDT by Biggirl (A biggirl with a big heart for God's animal creation, with 4 cats in my life as proof. =^..^=)
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To: Piquaboy
Men in Black run our country not the people.

Men in Black negligees run our country apparently.....

4 posted on 05/16/2008 5:57:14 AM PDT by Red Badger ( We don't have science, but we do have consensus.......)
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To: shortstop

One group in CA is very happy with the new freedoms they won.

This group is gay male pedophiles. Now they can marry and adopt little boys by the bunch.

Shame on CA.


5 posted on 05/16/2008 5:59:18 AM PDT by stockpirate (Purge the RNC and GOP of ALL SOCIALISTS . Starting with Juan McCain.)
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To: Biggirl
Are we on our way to another civil war?

Seeing as it took nearly a century to get around to the first one, I would say the next one should take about a thousand more years. A total collapse of civilization, a Dark Ages, generations of beefing up the descendants of survivors, and reasonably low sunspot activity.
IOW, no.

6 posted on 05/16/2008 6:05:14 AM PDT by 668 - Neighbor of the Beast
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To: shortstop
And five people spoke for 38 million.

Actually, since the final vote was 5 - 4, only a single judge made the decision. Just as it is at the federal level, with Justice Kennedy being the "swing" vote - Justice Kennedy IS the Supreme Court.

We do not have a king. Such power by an unelected branch of government was never contemplated by the founders - people much smarter than the crop of politicians who inhabit governments nationwide.

7 posted on 05/16/2008 6:05:35 AM PDT by Sgt_Schultze
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To: shortstop

Here is the only way to solve the current judicial crisis, where judges are free to interpet the law to suit themselves.
No dramatic decisions that radically change society should be made without A SOLID CONSTITUTIONAL BASIS. That means it if isn’t specifically spelled out or is clearly related to established law, the constitution should be considered to be silent on the matter. No weird roundabout justifications allowed, no fancyful or hypothetical interpretations based on “a living document”. Any issue on which the constitution is silent will be decided by the legislature or by the voters via referrendum. Any judge found to make a decision not justifiable by the above standard will be impeached, disbarred, jailed, hung, whatever. Ok, maybe not hung.


8 posted on 05/16/2008 6:09:55 AM PDT by Hacklehead (Crush the liberals, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentation of the hippies.)
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To: Biggirl

It would be totally justified this time. It’s turning into a Banana Republic. Demonrat judges will do their best to force their will onto the people.


9 posted on 05/16/2008 6:12:57 AM PDT by bushfamfan (The sunrise has turned into a sunset.)
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To: shortstop
"Marriage" is now a benefit distribution contract overseen by the government. The solution is simply to make sure your church provides a special recognition of the relationship between one man and one woman, and to quit and join another one if it does not.

There's no need to get worked up over specious court rulings - in a political sense this battle over ownership of the word "marriage" was lost a long time ago, in changes to divorce law. Once marriage was reduced in the eyes of the law to a strictly financial arrangement, there was no legal way to keep gays from claiming a right to similar status.

10 posted on 05/16/2008 6:13:58 AM PDT by Mr. Jeeves ("One man's 'magic' is another man's engineering. 'Supernatural' is a null word." -- Robert Heinlein)
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To: shortstop

I saw Gavin “any twosome” Newsom on the news yesterday.

That man is an disgrace. Heaven help us if he decides to go national and run for president.

“It’s about human dignity. It’s about human rights. It’s about time in California,” San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom told a roaring crowd at City Hall after the ruling was issued. “As California goes, so goes the rest of the nation. It’s inevitable. This door’s wide open now.

>>>>>>It’s going to happen, whether you like it or not.”<<<<<<

What an arrogant, POS thing to say to California voters!

Maybe I should give him credit for coming right out and saying it though.

It reveals his nature and how completely currupt the “San Francisco” values he embraces really are.


11 posted on 05/16/2008 6:24:18 AM PDT by Califreak (Hangin' with Hunter-under the bus "Dread and Circuses")
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To: Biggirl

It seems inevitable that there will be another bloody conflict in this country. Since the left is outnumbered and outgunned I suspect their plan is to use an army of illegal immigrants, trained and led by gangs, to be their surrogate army. The only hope of the right will be if the military decideds to honor its oath and defend the Constitution “against all enemies, foreign AND DOMESTIC.”


12 posted on 05/16/2008 6:37:50 AM PDT by clintonh8r (Leaving the top of my ballot blank.)
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To: Biggirl

=/

It would take a large portion of our current military to wake up and realize they have abandoned part of their oath. They do well in defending the constitution against foreign enemies, but are shamefully AWOL against the more deadly domestic enemies.

Will we ever see the day when the good people in the military break ranks with their socialist masters in the government and actually fulfill their duty completely? Maybe.. but I dont think they will fire the first shot. I think its up to us (The People) to section off a portion of this once great nation and split it off from the cancer of the whole. We need to setup a place where the constitution and the principles which penned the declaration are restored. Only then can we ask the military to perform its duty and defend the constitution.

Do I think “The People” have the fortitude to accomplish their part of this deal?

No.

But it doesn’t really matter what I think. Only time will tell.


13 posted on 05/16/2008 6:50:32 AM PDT by myself6 (Nazi = socialist , democrat=socialist , therefore democrat = Nazi)
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To: shortstop

Ruling that a law is unconstitutional doesn’t make its opposite the law either.

If the US Supreme Court rules that Washington DC’s guns laws are unconstitutional, does that mean everyone can run out and buy a dozen guns?


14 posted on 05/16/2008 6:56:12 AM PDT by <1/1,000,000th%
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To: clintonh8r
The only hope of the right will be if the military decides to honor its oath and defend the Constitution “against all enemies, foreign AND DOMESTIC.”

What about the 80 million gun owners in this country...we ain't hay ya know!

15 posted on 05/16/2008 7:16:33 AM PDT by Edgerunner (At the heart of every absurdity, lies a liberal lie)
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To: shortstop
They did McCain a huge favor, yesterday. The court held that the law against gay marriage violated the California, not the U.S., Constitution, and a petition has already been submitted to put an initiative to amend the California Constitution on the ballot this November. As it was, California wasn't as blue as the Democrats would have liked. Now the California Supreme Court has done more than anyone to ensure that conservatives turn out big in November. It was this sort of thing that really helped deliver Ohio for Bush in 2004. California could well be in play because of this.
16 posted on 05/16/2008 7:42:24 AM PDT by The Pack Knight (Duty, Honor, Country.)
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To: shortstop

When are the people of California going to stand up and say “No” to imperial judiciary? Time and again, the people vote one way and courts rule another - often without basis in law.

Californians have lost the right to vote, to raise their children, to have a responsive government, etc. What more are you willing to surrender?

“Marshall made his decision, now let him enforce it”. President Andrew Jackson

“And how many divisions does the Pope have?” Joseph Stalin


17 posted on 05/16/2008 7:44:10 AM PDT by NTHockey
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To: Edgerunner

Maybe not hay..

But fat and lazy and all too comfortable in their little lives to actually DO anything of this nature. Those 80 million guns are worthless while stored in a closet or safe.

Regardless, a bunch of guys with hunting rifles is not enough. Gonna need the capabilities of a modern military to defend the borders of a new country and help stabilize the society. Command and control infrastructure will be vitally important in setting up defenses and coordinating the conversion from a socialist society to a free society. A bunch of guys with hunting rifles cant supply that kind of infrastructure.


18 posted on 05/16/2008 7:47:38 AM PDT by myself6 (Nazi = socialist , democrat=socialist , therefore democrat = Nazi)
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To: Biggirl
No, not a civil war. We are already in a war with Islam and this asinine ruling in Calipornia may well confirm what a well-known guy said about the US: "America is a nation based upon oppression, lies, immorality and debauchery and he calls upon us to reject the immoral acts of fornication, homosexuality, intoxicants, and gambling." Can you guess who said this in his letter to the US in 2002? Hint: His initials are OBL. OBL also claims our general and pervasive immorality is precisely why many people in the world hate America enough to go to war with us, with the ultimate aim of destroying us. You can read more in "The Enemy at Home" by D'Souza, a disturbing, wake-up call book.

Who is to blame for our nation's immorality? It's the media (Hollywood/TV), the destruction of the family, attacks upon Jewish and Christian religions and the "anything goes" culture embraced and lauded by leftists. Who is to blame for those failures? The Democrats/liberals/activist judges-that's exactly who! This should be a real campaign theme against any RAT running for office, especially Obama, a confirmed liberal.

19 posted on 05/16/2008 8:21:40 AM PDT by Paulus Invictus
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To: Paulus Invictus
Touche’ Biggirl, Excellent!!!
20 posted on 05/16/2008 9:59:54 AM PDT by Know et al (Everything I know I read in the newspaper and that's the reason for my ignorance. Will Rogers)
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